Every Moment with You
by HedgieX
Summary: "Okay, two things. A - why the hell are you filming me? B - I'm not entirely sure what a 'fungirl' is, but I'm not sure it's something that a Detective Chief Inspector should be affiliated with." Gill and Rachel suddenly have a case on their hands, as well as some new best friends. Absolute fluff for Lizzie, Hayley, Amy, Melissa, Gabby, Jill, Jade and Sophie, who will understand.
1. Chapter 1

**This is going to sound really stupid now, but originally I began this story because I was reading down the list of my fanfictions and I realised I didn't have a title beginning with 'E'. Which for some reason, irritated me. Don't worry about it too much...**

**It's just a bit of fun really, dedicated to all of the wonderful Scott&Bailey kids from Twitter who I spent a ridiculous amount of time fangirling with;')**

**E – Every Moment with You**

"Morning," Gill murmured as Rachel burst into her office.

The young DC gave her boss a nod in reply, trying to catch her breath. Her black trousers were splattered with mud, as though she'd run along a country lane in the pouring rain. Or perhaps through Manchester.

"And how are you this fine sunny day, Sherlock? Had your _Eureka!_ moment yet?" she slid her glasses from her nose and folded them, trying to keep the smirk from her lips, "Oh no, hang on, that was someone else, wasn't it?"

"Ma'am."

"Come on, enlighten me; what're you excited about? I've got a billion and one other things I should be doing right now. Whoever said that was a genius, actually, weren't they? I could live my entire life just quoting other people."

"Ma'am, there's loads of girls in reception."

"Oh, okay."

Rachel shook her head, leaning back against the filing cabinet, "It's not like a hen party or anything. They're not even pissed, I don't think. One of them keeps asking for you; she says there's something they need your help with, something about a missing fungirl; I don't know."

"A _fungirl_? What the hell is one of those?"

Both women stared at one another for a moment. The office outside was almost scarily quiet, the computers not yet buzzing, nobody shouting jokes across the room or alternatively sitting there holding their heads waiting in vain for their hangovers to pass.

Kevin probably knew what a_ fungirl_ was; it sounded like the kind of thing he would've been involved in as a boy. Skipping around the dark streets of Manchester, cowboy hat sparkling with pink fairy lights, legs hairy beneath his tutu. The trouble was, Gill didn't have too much trouble imagining it.

"Right, okay. I tell you what, Sherlock, as a favour to you, seen as you're obviously so caught up in what a _fungirl_ is," she emphasized the word again, as though it were a rare species of lizard, "You can come with me to talk to them. Let's put our stab vests on first, though. Never know."

"Right, Boss. Let's do it."

XxXxX

As Gill opened the door, she held her breath. Nobody dived on her, though; there were no knives thrust into her stomach, nobody screaming abuse. Instead, the six girls huddled on the sofa by the reception desk sat and stared.

It was quite ironic really, Gill decided. They were the ones entitling themselves _fungirls_, and yet** they** were staring at** her **like she was the rare lizard, not the other way round. Why did she keep thinking about lizards?

"Hello, DCI Murray," one of the girls stood up to shake her hand. She looked quite normal, actually. "We need your help."

"DC Bailey may have mentioned it."

"Yeah," piped up another one, grinning.

Gill realised that they were all wearing name badges. Not flashing neon signs, but demure little squares, rather like the one she was wearing herself, actually. The first one to speak had been 'Lizzie'; the smiling one was 'Hayley'.

Rachel raised her eyebrows, "What do you need help with?"

"Well," 'Amy' took a deep breath before she began, as though she were launching into a long story, "We all arranged to meet here, but one of us hasn't come. We think she's got lost."

"Very easy in Manchester," Gill agreed dryly, "DC Bailey is rather an expert at it, particularly when we need to get somewhere quickly."

"Hey, that's not fair, you said 'go right', and you pointed left, so I followed your finger; that's not my fault, is it?" Rachel snapped.

"Oh my God," 'Gabby', squealed, for no apparent reason. Gill felt almost like a headmistress of a primary school, all of her pupils hanging onto her every word like she was a goddess.

Gabby and another smaller _fungirl_ named 'Melissa' seemed to be recording this meeting on their phones; what was that all about? Were they planning on putting her on that Tube thing Sammy went on about? Something very fishy – or perhaps lizardy – was going on here.

"She's called Jade," the final one, 'Jill', informed them, "She was coming down from Scotland, only she's not answering her phone, and we think she must have got lost somewhere along the way."

"And what does this have to do with me?"

"We thought you might be able to help," Lizzie said.

"Okay, two things. A) why the hell are you filming me? B) I'm not entirely sure what a _fungirl_ is, but I'm not sure it's something that a Detective Chief Inspector should be affiliated with."

All of the girls burst out laughing.

"What's funny?" Rachel looked bemused.

"It's FANGIRL," Hayley and Amy grinned together.

Sounded even more like a lizard, if you asked Gill. Except nobody was asking her. "Okay, okay. When was the last recorded sighting – or the last time you heard from her, I suppose – of this Jade?"

"10: 25," Melissa looked at her watch, "Which was approximately two hours and two minutes ago, because it's 12:27 now. Oh, 28."

"And what did she say? Was it a text?"

"No, a tweet," Jill said, like a 'tweet' was the most normal thing in the world for a _fungirl/fangirl_ to be doing. Did you do a tweet? Did you watch a tweet, or read a tweet, or tweet a tweet? Who knew

"She said," Gabby piped up, checking her phone screen, "Awww naw, then a sad face. Haha, I'll probably get lost in Scotland getting too the train station, I'll see. Smiley face; kiss, kiss, kiss."

"Right," Gill nodded in agreement, not having really understood past the second word. What did 'naw' mean? Why were there so many words today that she didn't understand? Were these people actually English? "But I still don't really understand why you need my help."

"Morning, Boss. Morning, ladies," Kevin emerged through the doorway, not looking at all surprised to see a group of girls surrounding Gill and Rachel, "What's the crack here, then?"

"Kev," Rachel began, bursting out laughing, "These are the _fangirls_."

Gill was also struggling to control her amusement, because all she could see in front of her was Kevin in a tutu, carrying a little pet lizard under his arm. What had she put in her coffee this morning instead of the sugar, seriously? What was wrong with her? "And they need our help."

XxXxX

**Reviews would be really appreciated.**


	2. Chapter 2

Every Moment with You – Chapter 2

**Thank you to everyone for their feedback about the first chapter, it certainly brightened up my afternoon imagining it happening, and I guessed I owed you another chapter :3**

"What am I writing?" Andy asked, his gaze flickering from Gill to Lizzie, as though he wasn't entirely sure who was his boss any more. "Her name's Jade, right?"

Lizzie nodded. She seemed to be in charge of the group, although they all had their own roles. Amy was taking photographs, Hayley was scribbling furiously in a notebook, Melissa and Gabby were squealing.

"I'll do it," Hayley said, passing the notebook to Jill and taking the whiteboard pen from Andy, then turning round and writing _JADE_ in the centre of the board in large capital letters. Underneath, in brackets, she wrote _ ohsotanyaax_. Gill didn't ask what that meant; her brain was still exploding as she tried to work out what 'naw' meant.

Andy sat down beside Kevin, who was handing out muffins to all of the girls. Rachel and Janet – who'd eventually turned up, her skirt splattered with sick (apparently Taisie had got a kitten from her dad for her birthday, and it was now ill) – were sitting watching the girls with amusement.

"Okay, so she was coming here from Scotland," Melissa said, and Hayley wrote _SCOTLAND TO MANCHESTER_.

"It's now been... well, her last tweet was 10: 25, so it's now been approximately three hours since we last heard from her," Lizzie added, "We think she must have got lost. She was supposed to arrive at Manchester station at 11:30; she said she'd text when she arrived, but she hasn't and she's not replying to our texts."

"Okay," Gill kicked off her high heels and propped her feet up on the empty chair beside her. If she wasn't the boss today, she might as well make the most of it. "Well, your possible resources are Mitch, Lee and Pete. Rachel and Janet are also mean interviewers, if that's any help."

"We know they are," Amy grinned.

"Have you got a different coloured pen?" Gabby asked Kevin, who pointed to his box of crayons in the middle of the table, "No, like a whiteboard one?"

"Here you go," Mitch handed her a purple pen, and she stood up beside Hayley and began doodling little pictures. A train next to the _SCOTLAND TO MANCHESTER_, and a little stopwatch next to _10:25 – 1:20._

"Can we focus, please?" Jill suggested as Kevin sniggered. The corners of his mouth turned down as though she'd just slapped him; he offered her another muffin hopefully.

""Will you answer that bloody thing?" Gill snapped, as Lee's phone rang out across the office, "Before I throw it out of the window? Or actually, get one of the_ fungirls_ to do it for me; that might be a better idea."

"It's FANGIRL."

"_I'm loving angels instead_," Kevin sang along with the tune, tapping his foot in time, "Loving your choice of music, Lee. Very classy. Very noughties."

"Didn't know you were a Robbie fan," Rachel grinned, "No regrets, huh?"

"Inappropriate," Gill clapped her hands as Lee disappeared out of the room, shaking his head, "Come on, focus, people. Hayley is standing there like a mushroom waiting for you to tell her what to write."

"A magic mushroom?" Kevin suggested.

"Look, shall we stop for lunch?" Janet said gently, ever the peacemaker, as Gill played with her glasses again, a sure sign that she was agitated, "We can take the girls down to the canteen and get something to eat? I'm sure Jade will find her way here anyway – she'll text in a few minutes, and we'll find out this was all for nothing."

"Not quite for nothing…" Melissa mumbled.

Everyone in the room began to pack up. Gill watched the girls: Gabby gave Mitch his pen back, Hayley shoved her notebook back into her bag, and Amy showed Lizzie her camera screen; they were both laughing, saying something about a tumble-dryer. There'd been a character on TV once called Mr Tumble, hadn't there? Perhaps they liked him.

"They do really good fish and chips sometimes," Rachel was telling Jill, "There's always a silver lining when you're working weekends, too, because the Yorkshire puddings with the Sunday dinners are delicious. Aren't they, Jan?"

"Yes, kid, they're pretty good."

Some of the girls erupted into giggles again. What was wrong with the word 'kid', seriously? Gill didn't know – she never really understood anything anybody young said any more. Watching all of these lot, seeing how mad they were, how full of life; it made her nostalgic for her childhood, when nothing mattered except hanging out with friends and making the most of life.

It also made her wish she'd had a daughter as well as a son, with someone who'd actually love everyone in her family, rather than with someone like Dave, who'd… well, he'd ruined her life, basically.

Where did all of this come? _Think about lizards again, Gill. It's safer that way._

"Boss," Lee burst back into the room, and Gill gave him a nod, telling him to continue; she could see by his eyes that something bad had happened, "We've got a problem. It's… well... okay, there was a fire round the back of the train station. It had to be evacuated; by the time they managed to get it under control, there was basically nothing left except a pile of ashes and rags."

All of the girls had sat down again, their chattering hushed. Lizzie's cheeks, previously flushed with happiness, had been drained of all colour.

"Was anybody injured?" Gill said quietly.

"Nobody… from the station, no. There's no damage inside; they're letting trains come through again now, but they've cordoned everything off round the back, obviously, and… and there's a body round the back, yeah."

Amy dropped her camera, "Oh my God."

"It's too burnt to… well, it's hard to identify. The teeth have been smashed, and…" Lee was struggling to get his words out. Normally, it was only a room of adults he had to explain all of this to, and they were all used to it, they'd all been there before. They all knew how to hold themselves together until they were outside of work. These girls didn't, and the pain in their eyes made him want to cry.

"Right. Okay," Gill said.

"Shit," Rachel mumbled, and nobody was arguing with her. It was definitely shit.

"Okay. Mitch, Pete: go down to the canteen, get some sandwiches, some drinks, I don't know, anything like that," Gill stood up again, squeezing her glasses so hard that Janet was surprised the glass didn't shatter, "I think we need it."

"Ma'am?" a timid PC said from the doorway.

"I don't really think this is the right time," Andy told her.

"Sorry, sarge. I got told to deliver this to DC Lumb."

She dumped a cardboard box on the desk in front of Kevin and made a quick escape, realising she wasn't wanted in the room. Everyone, despite themselves, was staring at it, trying to peer through the holes.

"Come on then, Kev. Open it. We could do with a laugh as well as some food," Gill said, "What, you been ordering some new knickers or something?"

"No, Ma'am."

Lee and Rachel leant across impatiently on either side and bent down the flaps on the box. Kevin peered inside, and when he saw the gift he'd just received, his face went as white as Lizzie's.

Then Gabby screamed, and all hell broke loose.

XxXxX

**By the way, sorry again Jade, love you really 3**

**Find it funny how this was originally going to be a one-shot just for a joke, but I've actually written chapter three and it's sort of turned into a bit of a murder investigation... *rolls eyes***


	3. Chapter 3

**I've only updated because Melissa and Jade are so bloody persuasive. You've got them to thank, or perhaps not thank; depends on your opinion.**

Every Moment with You – Chapter Three

"Idiot," Rachel snapped at Kevin.

"Hey, none of it wasn't my fault. I didn't know it was going to happen, did I? Why's everyone blaming me?"

"Maybe because it was a box delivered to _you_? It had _your_ name on it, not anybody else's. What's the point in denying it?"

"But I..." he argued.

"Enough, both of you," Gill said softly behind them, and Kevin fell silent. Gill had fallen right back into place as their boss; the lenience she'd shown whilst they'd been having a bit of light relief with the girls in the office had disappeared now. "A few minutes ago a teenage girl was buried. Have some respect."

"Sorry, Ma'am," Kevin bowed his head.

"It's not me you ought to be apologising to, DC Lumb."

They both watched Gill wander away towards a woman standing beside the vicar next to the church door. Apparently it was Jade's mum; Gill hugged her – Gill, hugging someone? – and seemed to be offering her condolences.

Kevin glanced sideways at Rachel, "Still wasn't my fault."

"KEVIN."

XxXxX

The girls were sitting in a rundown coffee shop at the end of the road, passing round a mug of hot chocolate. Rain pounded the windows miserably; most of their faces, gathered together, were stained with droplets, perhaps a mixture of rain and tears.

"We never even got to meet her," Hayley said.

Gabby nodded, wiping her nose on her sleeve, "It's not fair."

Everyone turned towards Melissa as she suddenly jumped up from her chair; she flushed sheepishly. "Sorry, it... it's gone down my top."

Lizzie nodded, as though this was normal. "What are we going to do? Mum doesn't even want me here any more, she's going on and on about it – 'what if it was you who'd got murdered?' I mean, some of us are old enough, but then we kind of have a duty of care towards the rest of you, and..."

Amy continued as Lizzie trailed off, "And we had a duty of care towards Jade as well. So it's..."

"Sorry," Melissa said again.

There was a long, long silence.

"How bloody perfect are they, though?" Hayley mumbled. Gill sat at the opposite end of the café, Rachel on one side and Janet on the other, their heads together as they conversed.

"I know, it's so sweet how they've offered to look after us until... until it's all sorted," Amy agreed, spooning a soggy marshmallow into her mouth.

"And Jade would want us to have fun, wouldn't she?" Jill added.

Melissa yelped. "Sorry."

Gabby laughed, "Can't you control it?"

"Have you ever tried controlling a lizard? It's a nightmare."

"I'm sure it is. Look, what are we going to do? I just... whoever did that to her is still out there, and I just feel so awful thinking that she's dead, and it's all because she came to meet us, and..."

"It's not your fault, kids," Gill appeared behind them, squeezed in between Lizzie and Hayley on one of the rickety benches, "It's really not. There's some creeps in this world, and we can't do anything about that; we can try to stop them, but no matter how hard we try there'll still be someone trying to ruin someone else's happiness."

Jill handed the mug across the table to Gill.

"Thanks," she said, taking a large sip, then passing it on to Gabby, whose eyes lit up as their fingers brushed, "What happened to the lizard, anyway? You lot are much better off taking care of it – you should've seen Kevin with a dog, he nearly fed the poor thing chocolate buttons for its lunch."

"Really?"

Gill nodded, "Bit of a dumbo, that one. But we're working on him. One day he might even be able to count to forty nine; God knows how he plays on the lottery at the moment."

Amy took a photograph of Gill as she spoke, a strand of her hair flopping over her face. Sometimes, you just couldn't help yourself.

The lizard peeked its head out of Melissa's coat.

"Ah, so it's taken a liking to you, Melissa? Has it got a name yet?"

The way Gill spoke to them was special, like they actually mattered, like she cared about them individually, and remembered all the little things they did that made them who they were.

Hayley began scribbling away in her notebook again; Lizzie handed Gabby a tissue.

Melissa blushed again under Gill's gaze, realising she was actually quite gentle, gentler than any of them had imagined. "Amelia. It's a girl."

"Ah," Gill smiled.

"See you in a bit, Ma'am," Janet said as she and Rachel gathered up their coats and disappeared out of the door.

"Right, everyone's heading back to the nick now. We are going to find who did this to Jade, girls. and when we do, they won't know what's hit them, because I will kick them so very bloody hard that they will end up in Australia. I promise."

"She'd like that," Lizzie gave a weak smile.

"And meanwhile, we are going back to my house, because my son's gone off to university now, having all these late nights watching the Harry Potter films with Orla – that's his girlfriend – no doubt," she took the mug back and scooped a marshmallow out with her finger, "And to be honest, I've been a little bit lonely since he went away."

"Aren't you married?" Jill probed. Most of the girls looked at her in astonishment. _Durr. _She raised her eyebrows knowingly. "I mean, you don't have to tell us, if you don't want."

"I was, once. To an absolute tosser," she shrugged, saying nothing more on the subject, "So we're going back to my house, and we're going to make cakes. It's Kevin's birthday tomorrow, and as much as he's useless, we do appreciate the fact that he makes us all look good, as I'm sure you've gathered."

"Yeah, we'd got that," Melissa smirked, stroking Amelia.

"So we'll make him a cake. And then we'll make him another cake, as a reserve in case we happen to eat the first."

Amy looked over her camera, "Can one of them be chocolate?"

"If you like. And then," Gill stood up, fastened the belt of her coat around her slim middle, ran a hand through her hair and looked expectantly around the table at the group of girls, "We'll make some more cakes, some fairy cakes. And we'll write your names on them, and then we'll make one for Jade, and we'll eat them in her memory. Okay?"

They nodded, too emotional to speak.

"Sorry," Melissa broke the silence once more as Amelia jumped onto the table. Gabby jumped away a little. Lizzie smiled affectionately.

Gill still couldn't look at the bloody lizard without thinking of bloody tutus. It felt like the_ fungirls_ hadmade her brain go all unhinged.

But in a good way.

XxXxX

**You'll have to forgive my ignorance about lizards, by the way. This is my fluffy fanfiction (well, it was fluffy, now it's a little bit dark, sorry again Jade!) and so I've decided that lizards can jump. That is all. Please review and tell me what you thought;') xxxHaly**


	4. Chapter 4

**Because I'm in a good mood and it's basically now the weekend and school has finished for summer, here is the next chapter a day early for all you lovely Scott&Baileyers.**

**I'm actually quite proud of this chapter, which is surprising. I hope you all enjoy it, particularly Melissa, seen as this chapter and the next one are primarily about you...**

Chapter Four – Every Moment with You

"MELISSA, GET THAT BLOODY LIZARD UNDER CONTROL RIGHT NOW, OR SOMETHING INTERESTING WILL HAPPEN INVOLVING THIS EGG AND YOUR HEAD."

"Sorry, Gill."

Gill gave a stiff nod, as though she were a headteacher. Why hadn't she become a teacher, actually? You got to torture children, for God's sake; you got to colour in pretty pictures, and read stories using little puppets as props in assemblies. Sounded wonderful.

Instead, she'd become a copper, not just a copper, but part of murder squads. Going round the country, seeing dead bodies and comforting devastated relatives. Why had she done that? Why had she let other people's problems ruin her own life?

She wouldn't have changed it for the world.

"Lizzie," Amy squealed, "You've got to put the sugar in before the flour, you idiot."

"Does it really matter that much? It all goes in the same place in the end anyway, doesn't it?"

They both stared dismally into the bowl, at the lumpy mixture they'd concocted.

Across the room, Hayley had mixed up a perfect bowlful of cake mixture, and was busy preparing a tray with cases for the cupcakes; meanwhile, Jill was mixing up some icing.

Gabby and Melissa were still chasing the lizard around the kitchen. "Amelia, come back. We'll make you a cake, with your name on and everything? You can choose the icing colour?"

"It's a lizard," Gabby told Melissa slowly, as though she needed help understanding this evident fact.

"It's a_ she_; her name is Amelia. Maybe she likes cake."

"I think we still need some music on," Gill interrupted their lively debate, jumping up onto the kitchen sideboard and running a hand down a stack of CDs. "Ideas, kids?"

"Shit," Amy mumbled.

Gill looked stern again, "I don't have one called that."

Lizzie held up her hands in surrender, "It's not my fault. You were the one who put too much cocoa powder in, not me."

"It probably _tastes _okay," Jill ventured.

Gill pushed a CD into the player and crossed her legs, surveying the kitchen as though it were her empire. "I quite like this song. You lot probably prefer this poppy stuff – my son Sammy listens to that all that, I don't know, Michael Bubble or something, and Russell Brand's wife's songs about lollipops and parties?"

"Katy Perry."

"Yeah, her. And the one with the flick? Got famous from those videos on the internet?" Gill shrugged, "The _baby, baby, baby_ thing?"

"Justin Bieber," Gabby smirked, "My sister listens to him. He is literally the world's worst singer."

"For someone who doesn't like pop, Gill, you seem to be quite knowledgeable," a voice said from the doorway.

"Hiya, Slap."

"Hiya, mad cow."

"Inappropriate," Gill said, "These are the_ fungirls_."

"FANGIRLS."

"I heard about the kid," Julie crossed the room and levered herself up so she was sitting beside Gill, looking round at the girls, "Really sad. I heard she was meeting you here; good job you went to the station, I suppose, or we'd never have identified the body. I'm sorry."

"They're all at the station trying to make sense of this mess," Gill told her best friend softly as a couple of the girls' lips quivered again, "Kevin's really coming into his own this time. And he was delivered a lizard as well; Melissa has adopted it."

"It's called Amelia," Melissa grinned.

"How nice," Julie raised a perfect eyebrow, crossing her legs so that her red high heels pointed upwards, "And meanwhile you're all skiving off here, having a cookery lesson?"

"Well..."

Gill was silenced by the CD player, which suddenly burst into life, trembling as the tune was forced out through the dodgily wired speakers on the window ledge.

_You wait little girl on an empty stage,_

_ For fate to turn the light on._

"Christ, turn it off," Julie squealed, "What the hell is that?"

"I thought you'd recognise it," Gill grinned, "Don't you remember my fortieth birthday party? The back garden? A missing bra?"

"Oh God, you'll give me nightmares, woman. I've only just recovered; I'd wiped it away, and now it's all coming back."

"_YOU ARE SIXTEEN, GOING ON SEVENTEEN_," all of the girls squealed in a mixture of high and low voices, the majority of them dreadfully out of tune, "_FELLOWS WILL FALL IN LINE_."

"Get me out of this place," Julie moaned, "Please. Somebody."

"You entered voluntarily, you mad cow."

"Yes, I'm certainly mad."

"Oops," Jill wrinkled her nose miserably at the bowl of lumpy icing in front of her. It was somewhere between brown and black in colour, although it was hard to tell. "Too much blue?"

"No, seriously, Gill. I need a word; it's about work. Somewhere a little less public than this, perhaps?"

"Alright," she agreed reluctantly, and they both jumped down from the sideboard, "You lot behave, right?"

"Yeah," they all chorused.

Gill smiled and left the kitchen, her hand barely leaving the door handle before she heard a horrendous combination of sounds behind her. A gunshot; breaking glass; piercing screams.

"Shit," Julie murmured. She took her phone from her pocket and immediately dialled three nines, her fingers steady on the keypad. "Police, now. Listen to me, I'm an off-duty police officer, there's..."

Gill didn't hang around to hear Julie lecturing the emergency services. She opened the kitchen door again, crouched down at the scene of destruction in the centre of the room.

"Oh my God," Melissa was squealing, "Oh my God."

"It's okay," Lizzie said quietly, but her voice was similarly high-pitched, her cheeks as pale as they had been when the news of Jade had been announced.

Gill didn't say 'fuck', or 'Jesus', or any of the things she would have liked to say. Gill just nodded and took a deep breath and did what she'd been trained to do, what it was instinct to do.

XxXxX

**Oh, you have to love cliffhangers ;')**


	5. Chapter 5

**I'm normally a complete pedant about overuse of exclamation marks, but I don't even care today: IT FINALLY, *FINALLY* LET ME LOG IN!**

**Sorry this is a little bit angsty, but you've had plenty of fluff over the last few chapters, and I promise chapter six will be back to fun stuff again ;)**

**Never really done a fanfic from particular character's POVs before, I've always written it generally, so some of this chapter is new territory for me, opinions would be appreciated :3**

Chapter Five – Every Moment with You

"Just stay where you are, girls. Just stay still, stay under the bench; it's okay, it's going to be fine, okay? It's alright, Melissa."

The kitchen window had a bullet-shaped hole in, and the glass had shattered all over the CD player. The music was still playing, but it was crackling more and more now, the words sounded as though the singer was being strangled.

_I am seventeen going on eighteen,  
I'll take care of you._

"Julie's calling the police now; they'll be here in a few minutes. Come on, you know Rachel and Janet are good, don't you? I don't tell them very often," Gill said, pausing for a moment, wondering. Why didn't she tell them? She should. "But they're good. They'll be here."

"Yeah," Hayley mumbled.

"God, you lot, you don't half cause chaos wherever you go."

The girls sat in shocked silence, huddled up together under the kitchen sideboard, their eyes filled with fear. In front of them, at Gill's feet, there was blood smeared across the floor, and the remains of Amelia lay lifeless in the centre of the scarlet mess.

"It just..." Gabby stammered, as though she couldn't bear the silence that consumed them, holding her chest with her hands, "It just came through the window, and it hit her there, and she just..."

"I know. It's horrible, I know."

Melissa tried to move towards the dead lizard.

"No. Just stay where you are," Gill seized the girl's trembling arm, perhaps a little too roughly, her fingers digging in. "That could've been one of you. Come on, remember that."

"But..." she shuddered.

Gill hadn't been in this situation before. She acted oh so hard, like a seasoned copper, like nothing could scare her, but she'd never been here, never crouched in a room full of blood and screaming girls, wondering if another bullet was going to fly through her window and hit her in the heart.

She'd always been the one solving the crimes, sitting behind a desk pitying families who'd been torn apart. Those families who had never got justice because no one had been caught: that was Gill's fault, and she'd just sat there and let the bad guys get away.

Why was she thinking about this now? Priorities?

"Oh my God," Melissa sobbed again.

"Alright, kid," Gill suddenly wrapped her arms around the girl and held her close to her chest, rocking her backwards and forwards and stroking her hair, and wishing she could sit here forever and cry too, "It's alright."

XxXxX

_Jade's POV_

I'm not sure where I am. I know it's cold. They've put me in normal sort of room, but it's so empty and lonely: there's a bed, a table, a chair and a bucket. The bucket is where I'm supposed to go to the toilet.

"You'll be fine," they told me, "Nothing will happen to you. We just need you to stay here until we've got something."

I don't know what they want, but I guess it's something someone I love has got. Maybe my mum. I keep imagining how she must feel; maybe she's trying to find me, maybe she's staying out all night hunting everywhere.

I feel really bad about the fangirls too. They probably feel like it's their fault, especially the older ones, because I was meeting them. I wonder what they're doing now. They probably presumed I'd decided not to come; they probably had a great day, and went home all happy, forgetting about me.

No, I don't think they'd really do that. It's hard to know what to think when you've been here for a few days, though: I don't even know what day it is. It's nighttime now, but I can't sleep. I always used to tweet the fangirls when I couldn't sleep at home, and we'd talk about all kinds of random stuff.

I don't even know much about what happened at the train station. Typical me, getting into trouble everywhere: I thought I was going to get lost, and I was really proud I was about to meet them, but then they took me.

Something was happening around the back as well. I heard them talking about a diversion, and there was some people screaming and some police sirens as well. I tried to shout for help, but they pushed a needle into my arm, and then I don't remember anything except waking up here.

It's like a film, really. I used to watch TV programmes about kidnapping and think they were exciting. So many things can change in just a few minutes.

In films, the police always find the person just in time, just as they're about to be murdered or something. They never give up until they rescue their loved one, and the baddies are always locked up forever, or sometimes killed. But that's in films.

I've seen the news on TV too, where kids have gone missing and their parents cry at press releases and plead for their "little darling" to come back to them, but it never happens. And everyone forgets after a while, but they never find that child. There's a whole world of missing children out there, and perhaps some of them are still alive and screaming, but nobody can hear them.

I started off being really positive. I kept waiting to hear someone shouting my name; I just kept quoting my favourite TV programmes in my head. But now it's hard to think like that. I'm so tired and so hungry and so scared.

I almost wish they were here now, just because when they're here I don't feel alone. They haven't hurt me or raped me or threatened to kill me; one of them even brought me a magazine, but he had to hide it after five minutes because "the boss" came in.

The boss is the only one I'm scared of. As long as there's someone else here, he won't hurt me, but I don't ever want to be alone with him. His eyes are so blue.

I keep hearing voices now, shouting "Jade!" It's stupid, really, because I don't even know what their voices sound like, and of course they're not really here, but I imagine it's the fangirls come to rescue me, and perhaps they've even brought Gill with them.

I'm just going to curl up now, and imagine Gill bursting through the door and running towards me and holding me in her arms. That would make all of this almost worthwhile.

XxXxX

**OH JAAADDDEEE ;D**


	6. Chapter 6

**HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR MELISSA, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, *CHEERS LOUDLY AND WAKES UP ALL THE NEIGHBOURS***

Chapter Six – Every Moment with You

"Get some sleep, girls," Gill suggested softly.

They were all huddled up on the bed in the centre of the room, wearing baggy lost property pyjamas and clutching mugs of hot chocolate. Jill was crouched beside the TV, pushing a DVD of _Titanic_ into the slot; it wasn't very appropriate given their emotional state, but they weren't going to sleep really, and they all knew it.

"Aren't you going to have a rest as well?" Amy asked.

She just smiled and shook her head. _Be nice, wouldn't it?_

"You sure you're okay?" Hayley questioned.

"Honestly, you lot worry too much," Gill sighed, as though she was closing the conversation again, "Worry about yourselves rather than me; I'm fine. And so are you – with Kevin outside guarding the door, what can possibly go wrong?"

"I HEARD THAT," Kevin called.

It had turned out that there were some rest rooms nestled somewhere in the heart of the station; it was a bit cramped, but the girls had settled down for the night, and the canteen manager had even agreed to send them some complimentary bacon butties up in the morning.

It wasn't all bad, being part of a murder investigation.

"Girls, you know how..."

"Ssh, it's starting Gabby squealed.

On the TV screen, somewhere beneath the crackling black lines, the huge white boat was gliding through the sea in front of a setting sun. Gill wished real life was as beautiful as fiction, sometimes.

"Okay," she sighed, "Night, then."

"Gill, are you..." Lizzie called after her, but she'd already gone.

The girls settled down with their drinks to watch the film, each one of them wondering if they were the only one who couldn't concentrate on a tragic love movie tonight. Wondering if anyone else kept seeing Jade pleading with her killer to let her live.

About halfway through the movie, Jill curled up on the bed and closed her eyes, and soon afterwards the rest of them had joined her, their feet touching in the cramped conditions, all of them glad they were together. Words that would've made them cry if they were awake playing all night long in the background.

_Near, far, wherever you are; I believe that the heart does go on._

XxXxX

"Here you go, Gill, love," one of the canteen staff pushed a plate of toast across the table towards her, followed by a little tub of strawberry jam. Nobody liked seeing Gill upset, whether they were the chief con or a cleaner, because when Gill was upset something was truly wrong.

"Gill?" Laura prompted, when the woman didn't look up.

"Sorry, I was just..." she raised her head a little bit, and didn't think it was worthwhile trying to give excuses when the mascara stains on her cheeks said it all, "Thank you."

She sighed, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah. Bit tired, that's all."

"I heard about the girl. Jade, wasn't it? Horrible; it's all over the press, pictures of the body, and the funeral, and-" she trailed off as Gill's eyes filled with tears again, "It's truly horrible. The press need to respect the poor girl's family and friends, don't they?"

"Well, it's no big surprise. Vultures don't do compassion."

"No, but... did you know her? Jade?"

"No, no. I just feel like I'm responsible for what happened, somehow, like it's my job to find out who did this to her. More than usual, I mean," a shadow of a smile crossed her lips, "They always tell you not to get emotionally attached – I always tell my team to take a step away, to remember they didn't know the person, even if it's difficult. And here I am crying over Jade; slightly hypocritical, isn't it?"

"It's lovely that you care, Gill."

"Lovely isn't a word I'd use in these circumstances."

Laura winced, "Sorry."

"No, I'm sorry; ignore me. I'm just a grumpy old sod. I need some alcohol or something."

"Hiya," Julie said softly from the doorway.

"I'll see you later, alright," Laura squeezed the DCI's arm, then stepped away, "Look after yourself. It's not your fault, Gill."

"Thanks, Laura. For the jam. For the talk."

"You alright?" Julie sat down opposite her best friend. It was a rhetorical question, really, considering that Gill was crying.

"You look like I feel."

"Come on, eat something," she took a knife from the table and began spreading jam on the toast, "You look absolutely drained."

She shook her head, "I think I'd be sick."

"Aw, Gill," Julie sighed, and there was compassion in her voice, the kind of love that was generally covered up by 'fat arsed bitch' comments. Their friendship was deep, deeper than the surface of joking; they understood each other. "It'll be alright."

"Those poor girls..."

"I know."

"Melissa's face when I went back into the kitchen," she sniffed, "There was just blood everywhere, and she was trying to reach the... the... and I just held her, and she was sobbing."

"I know. You were there for them, Gill; you kept them calm until back up arrived. You couldn't have done anything more. You always tell your team to lighten up, don't you? You know none of this is your fault."

"I've argued with Sammy."

Julie sighed. Selfish lad. "Why?"

"He wanted money. He wants... he wants to buy Orla some jewellery for her birthday; I mean _expensive_ jewellery," she said, wiping her eyes on the corner of a napkin printed with the Manchester police force logo. Ironic. "I said I was prepared to help him out, but she's nineteen this year, I mean, they're still young, I know they've been together a while, but it's early days, and I'm not sure... maybe I'm just tight."

"You're tight alright," Julie smirked, but Gill didn't laugh, "Oh, come on, Gill. There's nothing you can do now; maybe you should get some sleep. There's definitely no point in you sitting here crying, is there?"

"I mean, I was never there when he was a kid, was I? Why change now? No wonder he hates me – I barely came home some nights, left him to the eternal silence of eating beans on toast with Dave. Never helped him with homework, never took him to the zoo."

"You did; I remember the pictures. There was one of the three of you next to the penguin enclosure; it looked like Dave had little black and white flappy wings coming out of his arse."

Gill just shook her head, "They're so small, and you keep thinking that you'll have time one day; that you'll do all these things and show them that you love them. You love them; they love you."

"Sammy won't love you any less because you've argued. He'll ring you back tomorrow, grovelling."

"I bet Jade's mum thought that: she thought _oh, __**tomorrow**__ I'll buy her a new t-shirt, _or maybe _**tomorrow**__ I'll take her and her boyfriend to the cinema_, but she never got the chance, did she? She never got the chance."

"No, she didn't," Julie sighed.

"One day they're little kids, and you tuck them up in bed and read them stories with all the voices, and they give you big sloppy kisses and everything is okay," fresh tears spilled out through Gill's eyelashes and down her flushed cheeks, "And then they grow up, and everything changes."

"It'd be pretty boring if things stayed the same."

"But at least it wouldn't hurt so much."

XxXxX

**Casual heart to heart there :3**


	7. Chapter 7

**Sorry the last chapter got depressing. One of you needs to slap me whenever it gets angsty and I'll aim for humour again. I naturally write depressing stories because I'm crap at humour - I once got a story rejected by a magazine because it was 'too downbeat' for their readers. Story of my life ;')**

Chapter Seven – Every Moment with You

"Okay. Let's take this nice and slowly," Kevin said.

"Slowly? You don't know the meaning of the word, mate."

"I could learn."

The man – Kevin presumed he was a man, because his voice was low, but in truth it could've been a woman because their face was covered with a grey cloak, menacing in the darkness – gave a chuckle.

Then again, it could've been a wolf who'd learnt to talk or something. Stranger things happened in _Twilight._

"What? I could."

"Not fast enough."

Then Wolfy hit him over the head with something big and heavy, and Kevin stumbled forwards and fell to his knees, as though he was about to be executed.

Well, maybe he was.

XxXxX

"Where did Kevin go?"

"Dunno, Ma'am," Rachel said wearily, taking another bite of her bacon sandwich and continuing to talk as she chewed. Rachel was too tired for manners, and Gill was too tired to notice her_ lack _of manners; the arrangement sort of suited them both. "He rang me, said I had to come and guard the door, said he had something to do. He didn't say what; he ran off."

"Probably went home. Can't really blame him; we were all shattered," Janet suggested softly, noticing that Gill still had smears of mascara beneath her eyes, and realising her boss had probably sobbed herself to sleep last night, if she'd been to sleep at all, "Did he tell the girls where he was off to?"

Gill reached across and opened the door, and Jill and Gabby stumbled forwards from their listening positions, grimacing sheepishly.

"Well?" Janet asked, knowing they'd heard.

"He didn't say anything," Lizzie said over their heads.

The three police officers stood in the doorway, surveying the room. Amy was still buried under one of the makeshift duvets, her camera tucked in beside her, but the rest of the girls were awake and tucking into breakfast.

Hayley was writing again; God, she must've written half a novel by now. Was it a murder mystery? Melissa seemed to be drawing a picture.

"Melissa? You alright this morning, kid?" Rachel asked.

She nodded.

"What you drawing?"

"A picture."

"_Really_?"

"Rachel," Janet elbowed her colleague in the ribs, "Leave the poor child alone. Don't you think she's got enough to worry about without your sarcasm? I'm sure her artistic skills would go right over your head anyway."

Rachel just shrugged, unsure if Janet was teasing.

"It's alright," Melissa stood up and handed her drawing across to Rachel, keeping her head down, "You can see. You can give it to... you know Gill said they would look after the body? Like, they'd... well, would you put that with her? Just to say bye and everything?"

"Everyone signed it," Hayley added, glancing up.

"That's really nice," Rachel said quietly, holding out the picture to Jill and Janet, "Isn't it, Ma'am? Sarge?"

Gill looked down on a somewhat creased sheet of paper with a sketch on, a group of people, all of the details meticulously drawn, their smiles lifelike. In the centre was Melissa, holding onto Amelia: the rest of the picture was greyscale, but she'd coloured the lizard so it stood out from the page.

Underneath were the names of all of the people in the picture. Gill's eyes skimmed the names, Melissa and Amy and Hayley and Lizzie and Gabby and Jill. Kevin had signed it, even put a kiss, bless him.

"Wow, are you planning on being an artist?" Janet smiled, "I'm sure we can arrange something – we'll put it in her grave, okay?"

Gill knew the truth; once the detectives had finished getting evidence from the lizard's remains, it would be burnt, and the ashes disposed of. But sometimes the truth hurt, and it would be nicer for Melissa to imagine Amelia was lying in a grave underneath an apple tree somewhere. _Ignorance is bliss._

Melissa held out a pen somewhat shyly to Rachel. The DC looked half flattered, half bemused, but scrawled her name underneath the amazingly realistic sketch of Rachel – Melissa had even drawn her mismatched socks poking out from her scuffed boots.

Gill felt a lump rise in her throat as Janet signed the picture too, then passed the pen along to her boss. Here was a group of girls trying to cope with the loss of a friend they hadn't even met, plus the trauma of the gunshot and Amelia's death. In the police service, the officers denied that they stopped caring about death, but in truth they did become hardened over time. Maybe that made them dead inside.

"So you don't know anything about where Kevin went?" Rachel asked the girls again, "Not like him to miss out on a free bacon sandwich, is it?"

"We don't know," Jill said, "He was texting, then he just said he had to go and that he'd see us later or something."

"I'll start adding up his skiving time and deduct it from his salary if he's not careful," Gill mumbled, "And then he'll have less money to buy his porn DVDs, or pick 'n' mix."

"Aw," Rachel wrinkled her nose, "That'd be a shame."

"And then he wouldn't bring us those strawberry bon-bons."

"What strawberry bon-bons?" Gill snapped, "Why don't I get sweets that are handed round the office? Am I automatically eliminated because I'm the boss? I need sugar as well, you know?"

"Some of our sweets might not be very appropriate, Ma'am," Rachel said hesitantly, "Some of them are... are funny shapes."

"Shapes that the chief con would have a fit about, if he saw them?"

"Yeah."

"Ah, so he mixes the two? Porn DVDs and pick 'n' mix? Like porn mix or something? Hey, why don't I work in a sweet factory, making little sugar willies for a living? Why didn't I take that career path?"

"You'd miss us," Janet smirked.

"I'd never get hungry. And my house would never be shot at."

"Unless someone wanted to sue you because their willies were the wrong shape," Rachel said, "The sugar ones, I mean. The real ones aren't exactly your problem, unless... well, unless you've done your usual trick nailing them to the wall by their testacles."  
"Okay, this conversation is getting too dirty for this time in the morning," Janet reached out and covered Gabby's ears jokingly as all of the girls exchanged amused glances, "Let's save it for the pub, ladies."

"Hayley and Lizzie are old enough for the pub," Melissa said.

Amy peered out from under the cover, "And me."

"Ah, there you go, you see, Ma'am," Rachel said, "There's the reason you became a copper. Let's raise the legal drinking age so these scallywags can't get in, and pop off to the pub right now."

"Good plan, Sherlock. Might even find Kevin there."

"No, Ma'am. He likes _different_ kinds of pubs to us."

XxXxX

**I hope you're all imagining Gill working for a porn sweet shop now;')**

**For some reason this chapter doesn't really seem to fit together very well.**

**Anyway, any guesses as to where Kevin's gone, apart from the pub?**


	8. Chapter 8

**Attempting to bring Sophie into the story now. As you do ;')**

Chapter 8 – Every Moment with You

Jade didn't say anything until she was certain. She watched him silently; her eyes had become accustomed to the darkness since she'd been locked in here, and she could make out his figure quite clearly.

She'd lost count of how many days it had been – she'd tried marking the wall, but time didn't really make sense to her any more, and she didn't know when one day ended and the next began. Anyway, if anyone else saw the little scratches, they'd probably think it was a record of how many times she'd had sex.

It was funny how some things didn't seem important any more; some things seemed so far away.

"Bit cold, isn't it?" a voice mumbled, almost to itself. If there'd been any doubt as to who it was, though, there wasn't any more. Kevin. "Is there any food around here? How you doing, kidda?"

He tried to cross the room towards her, but crashed into the bed post, so she crawled across to him instead. Close up, she could hear his heavy breathing.

"I'm okay," she said.

"That's good."

"Are you?"

"Um. They're a bit vicious, aren't they?" he tried to sound amused, but his voice was shaking. Jade could smell blood. "Have they hurt you?"

"No. They've been okay."

"That's good."

They sat silently for a long moment. Kevin was holding his head in his hands, as though he didn't want Jade to see he was crying, so she left him to recover himself. He seemed to understand that she wanted to know everything about what was happening without her asking any questions, though.

"The girls came to the station and said you were missing," he told her, "The body was found at Manchester station; they couldn't... they couldn't tell who it was, but obviously they presumed it was you. They had the funeral, your mum was there, and... and it was really nice."

"Are the girls nice?"

"Yeah. They're lovely."

"We always had this joke that we were all secretly perverts," Jade half-laughed, "But nobody would be as obsessed as us if they were a perv."

"The girls went to Gill's house, and someone shot at them through the window. They killed a lizard – it... well, it's a long story. But anyway, they were all really shaken up, and we were still trying to get a lead with the case."

"And then they texted you?"

"Yeah," he nodded, and she could see a droplet of blood running down his cheek in the dim light, "They said I couldn't tell anyone, or they'd kill you, so obviously I came here. I didn't want to risk... you know, Gill will absolutely murder me when I get back, she'll go on and on about how I'm never supposed to risk my life, how I should've told her no matter what, but they're clever, these guys, they'd know. And I didn't want you..."

"It's alright," Jade mumbled.

"Yeah. They'll find us, I know they will."

She leant her head on his shoulder, like she'd known him forever, and he wrapped his arm around her. And she cried herself to sleep, not caring about anything else except the fact that she wasn't going to die alone any more, because Kevin was here, and Kevin would rescue her.

XxXxX

"Where the fuck is Kevin?" Gill paced up and down the room. They'd knocked down the door to his flat, turned the entire place upside down, found the microscope that had been stolen from the labs last year.

But Kevin hadn't been there, and now the jokes about bacon sandwiches had worn off, Gill was beginning to get agitated. It wasn't like him, to disappear without a trace: he normally left disaster wherever he'd been.

"Have you tried his phone, Ma'am?" Mitch ventured.

"Of course I've tried his bloody phone," she snapped, but as she spoke she played with her own mobile, dialling his number and then hanging up when she got no answer, "Stupid boy. Stupid, stupid boy. What have I told him? _Always tell someone where you're going, Kevin. Never go anywhere alone, Kevin._"

"It's just the whole teenage rebellion thing, Ma'am," Rachel smirked, tucking into her third bacon sandwich, "He loves you really."

Gill watched tomato sauce dribble like blood down Rachel's hand, and felt slightly nauseous, "Well, I bloody hate _him_."

"Ma'am, sorry to interrupt," Lee leant around the door, "But there's a lady here wants to talk to you."

"Unless she knows anything about a) Jade's death or b) Kevin's disappearance, I'm not interested. Tell her to come back another day. I tell you what; tell her to come back another _year_."

"No, that's the thing, Ma'am," he persisted, giving Rachel a half-smile as she licked the sauce from her hand, "She says it's really important. She says she's got information for you, about the station, about the death."

She gave a deep sigh.

"What do you want me to do, Ma'am? I could talk to her if you want, but she asked for you by name. Said it was important she saw DCI Murray."

"You're in demand, Boss," Mitch smirked. The woman obviously didn't know Gill, then.

"Right. Fine. But if she does not have groundbreaking evidence for me, I will go down to the basement and find a bag of pegs and hang you – and you, Mitch, because I feel like it's unfair that Lee takes all of the blame – outside the station on the telephone wire. Do you understand?"

"No pressure, then," Lee muttered, "Oh, and Ma'am? She knows the fangirls."

"FANGIRLS," Gabby corrected automatically.

"Listen, lady," Gill turned round, "A) That was a private conversation and b) he did actually say _fangirls_. God knows why, because _fungirls_ fits better if you ask me, but what do I know, I'm just... how does she know them?"

"Don't know, Ma'am. Like I said, she wants to talk to you."

"Well, what's her name?"

Lee consulted his notebook, "Sophie."

"Ah, Sophie," Lizzie peered around the corner too, seeming to disregard the fact that Gabby had just been lectured about ear wigging, "Yeah."

"Am I the only one that has absolutely no bloody idea what's going on right now?" Gill asked, rolling her eyes, doing what Janet called her ostrich impression. Normally saved for Dave's antics, but sometimes needs must.

"Nope, Ma'am. I've got no idea either," Kevin said cheerily.

"Right, Lee," she sighed, "Let's go see this Sophie then."

Lizzie coughed.

Gill didn't even turn round, "Lizzie, you'd better come with us too."

XxXxX

**Lizzie's subtle coughing skills will get her far in life ;')**


	9. Chapter 9

**I've never been to Manchester *sad face*, so excuse me if I'm wrong with details of the station, but I don't suppose it really matters.**

Chapter Nine – Every Moment with You

"So you're a fungirl as well?"

Sophie looked questioningly towards Lizzie, who just shook her head. She'd given up correcting the whole _fungirl/fangirl_ argument now; she let Gabby do it. Sophie nodded, "Yeah."

"When we arranged to meet up, Sophie couldn't make it. We thought it was kind of ironic at the time, because she was coming to Manchester the week after – like, as in this week. We were only planning on coming for two days, but obviously now..."

"Ah," Gill nodded primly as Lee scribbled a note, "Every cloud."

Sophie shook her head, "Every silver lining."

"Lee."

He glanced up, "Yes, Ma'am?"

"It's every _cloud_, isn't it?"

"The cliché is 'every cloud has a silver lining', I do believe, yes, Ma'am."

"It doesn't matter," Lizzie said quickly, seeing that Sophie was prepared to continue defending her side of the argument. They'd just have to get a copy of Hayley's book posted out to Gill. "So anyway, we get to see her now."

"Okay, so, Sophie. You indicated you wanted to talk to me about something?"

"Yeah," she said, looking slightly unnerved.

Lizzie had taken Sophie to the toilets before they'd gone into the interview room, and spent the seven minutes they'd been in there babbling on about cakes and lizards and gunshots, and mainly how wonderful Gill was. Yet the DCI seemed to be treating Sophie coldly now, like she was a criminal or something.

"Something about Jade's disappearance?"

"Yeah."

"Just take your time," Lee told her, smiling.

At least _someone_ was being a little bit warm towards her; she wasn't entirely sure what she'd done to upset Gill. She talked to the DC instead now. "I found something when I came through the station."

"Okay. What did you find?"

"I found," she rifled around in her pocket, "This. It's Jade's; I know it is. I've seen it on photos on Twitter."

Lee nodded, "What do you think is important about this, Sophie?"

"I found it on the stairs. You know, the ones leading up to the bridge?" she looked to Lizzie for support, and the other girl nodded, "You'd only go up there if you wanted to watch the trains or something, wouldn't you?"

"It's alright. Take your time," Lee repeated, seeing how nervous she was, seeing she was questioning her thoughts under Gill's cold stare. He didn't know why his boss was being so harsh towards the poor girl; she had a perfectly valid point, something which might give them a massive lead.

"You can't get out that way, so the people who did... who killed that person wouldn't have gone that way; they'd have been trapped. Would you really want to watch trains after you'd killed someone?"

"No, you wouldn't," Lizzie agreed.

All four occupants of the room stared at the bracelet.

"Are you suggesting that you don't think it was Jade who was killed?"

"Yes," Sophie said, glad Lee understood, "I think... I think maybe she was standing on the bridge trying to get a signal or something. I think something must have happened after that, but I don't think she was the person who was killed."

"Well, where is she now, then?" Gill snapped.

"I don't know."

"Maybe the killers went the wrong way. Maybe they deliberately placed the bracelet there to add an element of doubt to the situation. Maybe it's not even Jade's bracelet."

"But maybe it is," Lizzie said softly.

"We'll look into it, Sophie. Thank you – do you two want to go to the canteen and get something to eat now?" Lee suggested, "We'll see you a bit later?"

"Yeah. Okay."

Lee waited until they'd left the room, "What the hell was that about, Ma'am?"

"What the hell was what about?"

"You. You're treating her like she's some kind of criminal. She's done nothing wrong; she's friends with them, she was – maybe is – friends with Jade. You've been so lovely to all the other girls, but you treat her like shit?"

"What, you think she's right? It's a crappy piece of plastic, Lee; they'll be all over the country. It doesn't mean anything."

"No, but that doesn't mean you can treat her like that either," he stood up, holding his notebook across his chest, glaring at her, "Poor kid; you'll have petrified her. She's not done anything wrong."

"You need to remember who you're talking to, DC Broadhurst."

"And so do you. What, you've never seen me shout before? I'm not brainwashed, Gill. I admire you, but I'm not going to let you do that."

"Not going to let me do what? It is _entirely_ up to me how I conduct my investigations. You cannot..."

"What the hell is going on in here?" Janet burst through the door, cutting Gill off. Both Lee and the DCI glanced guiltily up towards the CCTV camera on the wall. _Shit. _"Just both of you sit down a minute, and calm down."

Gill sat, and buried her head in her hands.

"Alright, Lee. What's happened?"

"Nothing, Sarge. It doesn't matter."

"I think it does matter."

Lizzie, Hayley and Amy hovered in the doorway with Rachel. A silence had fallen over the room, the stiffness between Gill and Lee suddenly replaced by sadness.

"Come in, girls," Janet gestured to the chairs around the outside of the room, "Right, Gill. I think it's fair to say you've upset Sophie. And I think that's _unfair_; as Lee was just saying, she has a good point, and even if she's wrong... Lizzie was praising you to the stars – they all were, they all think you're wonderful. And now Sophie's sitting crying wondering why you hate her so much."

"She's crying?"

"Yeah," Janet said, "She's crying."

**To be continued...**


	10. Chapter 10

**We all know that knowing my luck the video won't actually upload after ALL THIS. So here we are; a consolation prize.**

**I actually really hate the way this chapter turned out. And I hate how OOC everyone has become. This story is becoming awful.**

**I originally wrote the second part of this chapter as Julie announcing that she and Kevin were dating, but it seemed 'so wrong on an inexplicably huge scale' – FLAWLESS QUOTING THERE – that I had to delete it.**

**On the plus side, I've brought in Julie again as a special present for Jill, aren't I good to you? ;')**

**Okay, that was a long A/N. And it's the best bit about this chapter. Sorry.**

Chapter Ten – Every Moment with You

"I didn't mean..."

"I know you didn't mean to. But how many people say that? Oh, I didn't mean to murder them – the knife just went in a bit too hard? Come on, Gill," the sergeant's tone was softer now, because she could see Gill's fingers shaking, "You always say; we've known each other for nineteen years. We know each other, and I know that is entirely out-of-character for you."

"But Sophie doesn't," Amy added. She didn't have her camera out now; it seemed like an inappropriate time.

"We all know you've been emotionally affected by this case. God, we all have, and we understand that, but you in particular, Gill."

"I'm fine," she said, "Where's Sophie?"

"Just hang fire a minute," Janet swung her legs back and forth under the table, "If you think Sophie's wrong, then fine, but we need to look into that line of enquiry, don't we? You do see that, don't you? There's a difference between being emotionally attached and being downright reckless because of it; if you're going to make bad calls because of what happened then maybe you shouldn't be here."

"I don't make bad calls."

"I know. I know you don't. That's why this is wrong. You haven't eaten or slept for days; it's all going to catch up with you, Gill. And we can't allow that – this is too big to be compromised. You know as well as I do that we need justice for Jade."

"That's what-" Gill mumbled, suddenly needing to gasp in oxygen. She was not going to cry in front of any of these people. Janet was bad enough, but Lee and Rachel were here, and all of the stragglers... the girls... "I don't want to have to do this."

"I know. Neither do we."

"You don't understand."

"We do," Lizzie piped up suddenly, "If you have to investigate this, then you're admitting that she might not be dead, you're opening up that possibility, you're giving everyone the hope that she's alive."

"But then if it turns out to be wrong," Hayley continued, "It just makes it worse, because you've started believing she's okay, and then you know she's not."

"We understand perfectly."

Janet nodded, unable to do a better job that the girls at explaining that. They were bright and brilliant, these kids. Oldham nick needed more cops like them.

"Gill, Julie said from the doorway. No 'hiya, Slap' today then.

"Ah, good, Julie," Gill snapped. She was glad get away from the fact that three teenage girls cared about her; she didn't want them to see her tears. "Lee and Pete have just spent all morning tracking down who sent Kevin that lizard. We thought it could be a clue – you know, maybe he's been kidnapped, and taken to a dragon zoo or something? But no. Why the_ hell_ did you send one of my officers a lizard?"

Julie stepped into the room and sat down next to Rachel. "Yes, thank you, Gill. Thank you for calling to tell me Kevin had gone missing. Some little PC barely out of nappies with snot dribbling down his nose informed me that there was now a search being conducted for an officer from MIT who'd disappeared. Can you _imagine_ how stupid I looked, in front of my entire team?"

"Well, worrying about you looking like an idiot wasn't exactly my number one priority."

"Well, maybe it should have been."

"Woah, ladies," Lee smirked, "Handbags away."

"Lee, Rach," Janet suggested softly, in a tone that said 'I don't want to order you around, but I'm the sergeant here, and you need to do what I say', "Why don't you take Lizzie, Amy and Hayley back to the girls. I'm sure you can explain what's going on – explain to Sophie that Gill didn't mean to upset her. And it must nearly be lunchtime; see if they're doing chips in the canteen today."

Julie and Gill stayed silent until the officers and the girls had left.

"What wrong with you two? I've never seen you argue before."

Julie shook her head slowly. It seemed as though all of her anger had evaporated, and now she felt guilty for her outburst. She didn't want to look at Gill, because she could hear the quiet sniffing as her best friend tried not to cry. It wasn't her fault – not all of it, at least – but she felt guilty. She should've protected her.

"Am I..." Janet wrinkled her nose, "Am I missing something here? There's not... is there something going on between Julie and Kevin?"

"NO," Julie and Gill said together."

"Oh. Sorry. I just thought..."

Gill laughed at the absurdity of the suggestion, but the sound turned into a moan. She buried her head in her hands, knowing that the CCTV was still rolling, knowing that her colleagues could all be standing around a camera watching her like she was an animal – a lizard, no doubt – in a cage, fascinated by her tears.

They'd never seen her cry. She didn't know if that was good or bad. She needed to be the strong one for her team when everything was going badly, she needed to show them it would be okay; on the other hand, did never showing any emotion suggest that you didn't care? That was far, far away from the truth.

"It's alright, Gill," Julie said, "I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry too. Christ, what's happening to us all?"

"I think you both need to go home and get some sleep. I don't know about you, Julie, but Gill's barely stopped all week, and sometimes I think you just need to take a step back and think," Janet told them both sternly, like she was their mother. She loved to mother Rachel, even if she pretended she didn't. "We can't function if the people we look up to are falling apart, can we?"

"It's been hard. You know, with the girls," Gill wiped her face with her sleeve – she'd always told Sammy off for doing that, "Then with Kevin. It's just hard."

Neither Janet nor Julie could think of a suitable reply. Gill attempted a smile, but both of her friends could see she was still crying inside. That was what friends were for, to notice those things.

Julie came closer and reached out a hand; her fingers brushed Gill's shoulder. And that action said it all.

XxXxX


	11. Chapter 11

**Thought it was time for 1) some fun with Pete, because he's hardly featured and he's lovely really, 2) some fluffy scenes, and some biscuits, because it's all been depressing for a while, and 3) A NEW ARRIVAL, WHO HAS BROUGHT SOME CHEESE SANDWICHES. All will be revealed :3**

Chapter Eleven – Every Moment with You

"So Jade might not be dead," Amy concluded.

The girls who hadn't already known this – Jill, Gabby and Melissa – exchanged glances. Confused, hopeful, nervous. Like Lizzie had said, they all understood perfectly: they didn't want to get their hopes up, because it would hurt one hundred times more the second time over if they found out it was all for nothing.

Hayley glanced up from (surprise, surprise) her notebook, and chewing the end of her pen, "Are you alright now, Sophie?"

"Yeah, thanks."

"Gill didn't mean it, you know?"

"Yeah."

Lizzie reached across to the table in the corner of their cramped bedroom and took the box of biscuits from it. They'd managed to shuffle everything up and make room for another blow-up bed for Sophie, and she was now huddled up on it under the blankets. Lizzie held out the box to her, and she took a white-chocolate square gratefully.

She wasn't alright really; none of them were. But sometimes you just had to laugh, or you'd cry; sometimes, you had to pretend things were okay before they could ever begin to repair themselves. Lizzie knew that from experience.

"Right," Melissa said, seeming to share Lizzie's opinion that they needed to look on the bright side, "We need to stop moping around."

Jill grinned as she took a meringue-filled wafer, "Exactly."

Gabby reached out to take a biscuit, but lost her balance and fell head-first into the box. She and Lizzie ended up in a heap on the floor, covered in crumbs, and when Gabby raised her head she had a smiley-face biscuit stuck to her cheek, the jam from its mouth smeared everywhere.

"Oops," Gabby mumbled.

"Shit," Lizzie squealed.

"Oh my God," Jill jumped up from her bed and leapt onto Amy's instead, "You've spilt HobNob crumbs all over my feet. It's all tickly."

Amy gave Jill a playful slap with her pillow, "Don't get them on my bed."

Sophie sat up suddenly, and everyone turned towards her apprehensively, wondering if she was about to throw up half-digested biscuit all over them, but she had a grin plastered across her face.

Jill looked up from wiping her toes, "What?"

"Well..." she picked up her pillow too, then crept slowly towards the door.

Everyone watched silently, exchanging bemused glances. They weren't allowed to leave the room at night because of the... well, because they might get murdered. She'd never get past whoever was guarding the door.

"Sophie..." Lizzie warned, but she ignored her.

"PETE?" Sophie squealed suddenly.

The door burst open, "What's go–"

The rest of his sentence was muffled as Sophie threw the pillow at him. For a long moment, his eyes glittered with anger, and the fungirls – NO. FANGIRLS. – held their collective breaths, wondering if they were about to get a bollocking.

Gill had gone home. Lizzie, Amy and Hayley had been delighted by this news – delivered rather abruptly by Rachel, because she wanted to get off to the pub for Alison's birthday party before she missed out on the free booze. They'd been worried about the DCI; they thought she needed a break.

Sometimes, it didn't take much to tip someone over the edge.

"Cheeky mare," Pete grumbled.

"Sorry, Pete, she just..." Jill began, hoping to get them out of a lecture about bad behaviour. God, he might call Janet, and she might get angry – Janet angry would be bad.

Pete bent down and picked up the pillow. Then he threw it at Amy.

"Hey," she squealed, scooping up a broken chocolate digestive from her bed-sheets and firing it off towards Hayley.

Suddenly, the movie they'd originally settled down to watch – _The Proposal_, leant to them by Mitch (naturally, he said it was his wife's, but the fangirls weren't sure if they believed him) – didn't seem so important. Jill turned down the volume on the TV, since she'd been put in charge of technical things, and all around the room squeals erupted.

Lizzie threw a bourbon at Gabby. Gabby threw an Oreo at Melissa. Pete, noticing the food, dived into the room and rifled through the remains of the biscuit box, coming up with a handful of chocolaty crumbs.

"It's fine, Pete. Just steal of fangirling biscuits."

"Well, you have to pay me something to be quiet," he said through a mouthful of biscuit, "Or I'll go and file a complaint about a violent attack with a pillow, and your biscuit supply will be suspended permanently."

"Fair enough," Amy said, then smiled as she realised she'd paraphrased Adrian. Judging by the laughter around the room, the rest of the fangirls had cottoned onto the pun too, but Pete was oblivious as he licked the filling from a custard cream.

"What happened–" he paused to breathe, "What happened to the cakes you made at the boss's house, anyway?"

Gabby wrinkled her nose, "They got a bit burnt."

"Yeah, a hostage situation isn't the best thing for budding bakers," Hayley agreed, putting her pen down in favour of eating something slightly more tasty – she selected a large raspberry and white chocolate cookie, "We were a bit... well, we were sort of distracted."

"Mm. You'll have to make us some more before you go."

Biscuits and pillows were flying everywhere now. Party rings and Jammie Dodgers were mixing with feathers, sticking to hair and covering the bed covers. Nobody realised quite how loud they were being, laughing and squealing, letting out all of their fear and emotion, until Pete suddenly stopped still in the centre of the room and brushed the crumbs from his moustache nervously.

"Sarge," he said quietly, and everyone fell silent.

"Oops," Gabby mumbled again.

"Having fun?" Janet asked.

"Um, yeah."

"Right."

"Sorry, Sarge. We got a bit carried away," Pete coughed.

"No, it's fine. Nice to see you're enjoying yourselves; God knows you've had a hard time of it recently," she smiled warmly, "As long as you tidy up when you've finished, I'll turn a blind eye tonight."

"Thanks, Janet," Amy grinned, "Do you want a biscuit?"

"I'm okay, thank you. But I know someone who might," she stepped sideways, and a girl stepped forwards from the shadows.

Silently, Lizzie held out the remains of the biscuits towards her, and she peered into the box and smiled, "It might be a little controversial, but I don't suppose you have any Jaffa Cakes? I have a craving."

Pete and Janet left the room, and the girls all budged up for the new arrival to squeeze in under the covers too.

Jill turned the volume back up, and they settled back down to eat cheese and ham sandwiches – "a compromise?" – and watch _The Proposal._ As you did, when you were locked up in a police station with only the other fangirls for company, frightened and tired and excited. There was strength in numbers: it might've been a little cramped, but they were there to support each other.

_ To the window, to the window,_

_ To the walls, to the walls,_

_ To the sweat dripp'n down my balls._

"Why are we watching this?" the new girl said eventually.

The rest of the room replied, "MITCH."

And Sarah snuggled down under the blankets and took another biscuit and nodded, as if that explained everything.

XxXxX


	12. Chapter 12

**Time for some more Jade/Kevin action, methinks;')**

**Sorry I haven't updated in absolutely ages.**

**For anyone who isn't part of the fangirling group thingy on Twitter/Facebook (WHY NOT? COME AND JOIN US. SARAH WILL VOUCH FOR ME; WE'RE MAD, BUT I'M PRETTY CERTAIN SHE DOESN'T REGRET MEETING US!) I have a good story – my step cousin is going to be a make-up artist on series three of S&B, which is excittiiinnngggg!**

Chapter Twelve – Every Moment with You

Slowly, over the next couple of days, Jade nursed Kevin back to health. It was difficult; she had limited supplies, and she had to go without a drink so that she could use the water to bathe his wounds.

But she was learning that life was all about sacrifices, and Kevin had made it clear he would sacrifice himself for her, if it came to that, so she supposed she sort of owed him.

She liked Kevin. He was incredibly annoying – he never shut up, his jokes were absolutely crap, and his snoring almost made her wish they'd just killed her straight away – but she liked him.

"What happened, the other night? When they took you?" he asked her now.

They were both sitting on the bed they shared, feet tucked up underneath them, a plate of bread in the middle. They tore at it like animals.

"Nothing."

He nodded. She hadn't wanted to talk about it the other night, and she still didn't, he supposed. He couldn't do anything about that; all he could do was try to protect her. When they'd come for her, in the night, he'd kicked one of them in the face, and he'd felt the stranger's blood on his own face, but then they'd beaten him back. Worse than before; they just got worse and worse, these people.

"They didn't hurt me," she said quietly.

"They didn't..." he found it hard to comprehend, "Rape you?"

"No. They said they didn't want that."

"What do they want?"

Jade gave a muffled sob, and he dropped his bread and reached out a hand to her, surprised. He'd cried when he'd first arrived, covered in blood, because he was so bewildered and depressed, but since then neither of them had allowed their emotions to get the better of them.

_"There's no point crying," Jade had said, perfectly calmly, as she'd used the cloth the men had left by the toilet bucket to wipe the wounds on his head, "I know people who cry about all kinds of things – when their boyfriends dump them, when their favourite characters die on telly."_

_ "Seems a bit daft now, doesn't it?"_

_ "We have to stay strong," she'd told him, and he'd nodded his head, then winced because it hurt, and he'd known she was right. "They'll find us."_

"It's alright, Jade," he said now.

"I'm sorry."

"You've got nothing to be sorry for." His throat felt tight, like he couldn't breathe. He wanted to cry, but he wasn't sure he could waste any liquid. He had to survive, for Jade; without him, she'd lose hope.

"If I hadn't come here– if I hadn't got kidnapped," she whispered, "You wouldn't have been taken as well. It's my fault."

"It's not," he wrapped his arm around her and held her close, "Listen to me; you've done so well, these past few days. You've been so brave. You can't give up now – hey, you know better than I do that they'll find us."

"I want to see my mum."

"I know. I know."

Kevin leant back against the cold wall. He looked at the girl, the way her fringe fell over her face, the way her eyes were damp. "I'll tell you a story, Jade. I've never told anyone this before. Only me and my mum know."

She managed a small smile, "I'm privileged."

"Exactly. When– when I was at school, I wasn't a popular guy. I bet you can imagine, geeky kind of guy, big glasses. I cheeked the teachers, so none of them liked me, but neither did the kids. I got beaten up quite a lot."

Jade nodded slowly. She looked away from him, so he couldn't see her reaction in the gloom, but he imagined she was thinking of her own experiences. Most kids were bullied at some point.

"I was walking my dog one day. He was a chocolate lab, called Lennie – he was a bit of a donut, so we called him Lennie after the guy from _Of Mice and Men_, not exactly bright, but he was adorable. He was my only friend, really."

"Mmhm."

"Anyway, we walked through the park, and there was a fight going on. I was about fifteen; I had that kind of macho thing going on, where I thought I could sort out everyone's problems, I was dreaming of being a copper one day, you know? I thought, how hard can it be?"

He hadn't talked about this since his mother had died; nobody knew. It had haunted his nightmares for over a decade. From the way Jade's body leant a little further into him, he thought she understood how big a deal it was for him to be sharing this with her.

"So I went across, I told them to stop fighting. One of them pulled out a knife and stabbed me, just there," he pressed a couple of fingers to his stomach. He could feel the ridge of the scars even now. "They stopped fighting, though; they ran away. I sorted that out, at least."

"Were you okay?"

"I was just lying there. It was the evening, so nobody was walking through the park; there was blood everywhere, but I couldn't scream, I was just lying there trying to stay awake, counting the stars."

"It's okay," she said quietly. She seemed to have stopped crying now; it was deadly silent, apart from Kevin's voice, which shook slightly.

"And Lennie lay next to me the entire time. It couldn't have been very long, but it felt like forever. I thought I was going to die on my own; I was so scared. Like you must have been, when they first took you. Like Janet, when she got stabbed, but I was just a little boy. I hadn't told my mum which teddy bear I wanted... which teddy I wanted burying with me."

"Kev," Jade whispered, the first time she'd called him that.

XxXxX

**To be continued... eventually...**

**Please review!x**


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter Thirteen:**

"A police officer walked through the park. He was whistling, I could hear his boots tapping with every step. I tried to scream, but I couldn't," he shrugged, "Lennie went absolutely mad. He was whining and barking, he went across to the copper and dragged him through the grass to me."

"Not such a donut dog," Jade said quietly.

"No. He was amazing. The copper took his coat off, tried to stop the bleeding; he talked to me all the time, told me about football teams and stuff, said he wouldn't leave me, and I'd be okay. He was exactly the person I'd dreamt of being – someone who helped people, saved lives. I know everyone thinks I'm just an idiot, I just joke around and don't give a damn about the job, but it's not true."

"They don't think that. They were just joking."

Kevin nodded and picked up his piece of bread again. He took a small nibble and passed it on to Jade. He'd given up a long time ago with hygiene; there were more important things, he supposed. He couldn't swallow the bread – it stayed in his throat, half-chewed, tasting of nothingness.

"The copper, he was called Jack. He called an ambulance, and he stayed with me all through the night, until my mum came to the hospital. He took Lennie to the police kennels, and later on he came back to me and sat with me for hours whilst my mum slept, and told me all of these stories about him playing with Lennie in the police garden. He was just the most amazing man – he had a wife and children to go home to, but he never complained that he was tired or hungry. He was so funny and kind."

Jade nodded again.

"I used to go round to his house, when I got better. I made friends with his kids – the boy was called Ben, I still remember that. We stayed best friends all the way through school, I still talk to him sometimes, even though he lives in America now. Jack changed my life; without him, I would never have got to where I am."

"He sounds amazing."

"Yeah. He taught me a lot. He helped me bury Lennie, a few years later. He was always there for me," Kevin's voice trembled a bit again, but then he shook himself, "I'm sorry, blabbering on about all of this. I'm not normally particularly sentimental. I just trusted him like I've never trusted anyone. He was like a dad to me."

Jade handed the bread back silently.

"He died last week. His funeral is the day after tomorrow; me and Ben were going to read the speech together, you know? We were like brothers," he said. Silent tears trickled down his cheeks now, "I won't be able to go now. I'm going to have let him down, let them all down."

"No you won't. I bet he was really proud of you," Jade said quietly, tucking her hand into his. She was warm. "Like Rachel said, MIT is the bees' bollocks. You got to here because of him, didn't you? I bet he knew that."

They sat very, very quietly for a long time.

"I could really do with a cup of coffee," Kevin said.

"And some chocolate biscuits."

"And a bath full of bubbles."

Jade smiled. "You know, we will get out of here. Like you said. They'll find us, and you don't have to be at his funeral to say goodbye, do you? And to say thank you, for saving your life. I bet he knew anyway. Sometimes you don't have to say things."

The door opened behind them, and they both spun round. Kevin winced at the sudden movement. He felt Jade tense against him and he knew that, whatever she tried to convince him, these men were doing something bad to her. He should be protecting her, like Jack had protected him.

"Kid, come here," a voice ordered.

Jade squeezed his hand, like she was trying to tell him something, then stood up and walked across to the door. She was lit up momentarily, and Kevin saw her eyes were filled with tears again. Maybe not tears just for herself, but for him and for the story about Jack, and for her family. And for things you didn't have to say.

The man turned away for a split second. Kevin forced himself up, crossed the room in several strides; the man turned, and Kevin ducked to avoid the punch, then kicked the man with all of his strength in the stomach.

Like he was suddenly getting revenge for what had happened in the park all of those years ago, he kicked and kicked, ignoring the pain soaring through his body, and he smiled when the man yelled.

"Stop," he pleaded, "Just– stop it!"

The man fell to the floor suddenly, crumbled into a pile, and Kevin saw a trickle of blood on his jumper. He felt Jade's hand on his shoulder, and he could hear her somewhere in the back of his mind, pleading with him to stop too.

What had happened wasn't this man's fault. Yes, he was a bastard, but God, he didn't deserve to die too, did he? Nobody deserved to die. He could be locked up now, he could suffer in prison, and one way or another they'd get their revenge, but not like this. Not right now.

Kevin was a copper; he was a good man. And Jack would never have done this, whatever the circumstances: never tried to kill a man. He had to do what Jack would have done – look after Jade.

"Okay," Kevin fell down on his knees by the man's side, suddenly drained of all his strength. He could feel blood on his hands, on his arms. The man was semi-conscious, groaning, holding his leg.

He wasn't going to get up any time soon, but he wasn't going to die either. Kevin didn't want to be a killer.

"Here," Jade whispered, holding up the man's phone, "There's no signal."

"Okay," he said again. Jade reached out for his hand, and he forced himself up onto his feet; they helped each other up the stairs, moving quietly.

It wouldn't be long before someone else came down. They had to go; they had to get help. Kevin forced himself to put one foot in front of the other, again and again, like when he'd learnt to walk again after the stabbing.

He'd never known the name of the boy who'd stabbed him, but he knew he'd been thirteen. Thirteen years old. He could've been a killer, if it hadn't been for Jack.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, to nobody in particular. To everyone: to his mum and his dad and Jack and Ben, and to Jade and Gill and Rachel.

"Here," Jade said again. She handed him the phone.

He closed his eyes to dial the number. Something that had always been engrained on his brain, since he was a toddler, something he knew he had to remember, like all those other kids all over the country. _One day, you might need it._

He dialled 999, and when he'd done that he took Jade's hand again and they closed the door that led down into the cellar below them, and they looked at each other, the way they were splattered with blood and urine and breadcrumbs, the way their eyes were filled with tears, and they held each other close until they heard the sirens, and they knew it was all finally over.

XxXxX


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter Fourteen | The End

_A week later_

"Who's having the margherita with extra ham?"

"Ham?" Rachel repeated, a trace of wine leaking from the corner of her mouth, "You come to a posh Italian restaurant with olives and smoked bloody pancetta and you ask for ham? What sort of idi–"

Kevin winced, "That's mine."

Gill had booked the whole restaurant for this evening. They were seated around a long table, all of the people she'd come to call her friends finally together. Julie would never have let her live it down if she'd found out, but it gave Gill a feeling of deep satisfaction to see them smiling, to know that they were all okay. It made her feel whole like she'd never really felt since she'd first found the sock that definitely wasn't her own in Dave's car.

Gill raised her eyebrows expectantly, and Kevin refilled her glass. He dribbled the last of the wine over her fingers as he tried to flick his wrist in the fancy way he'd seen Julie do once. Before he could open his mouth to stutter an apology, she'd reached out and squeezed his hand across the table, just briefly.

The pressure of her scarlet nails on his wrist made him suddenly ecstatic, until she kicked him under the table and normal service was resumed.

"What do you get if you eat Christmas decorations?" Janet was asking Taisie, who sipped her orange juice from a champagne glass, her eyes large and blue and beautiful like her mother's.

"I dunno."

"Tinsellitis."

Elise laughed, but Taisie rolled her eyes at Andy, as though saying 'Why the hell do you_ choose_ to date her? If I could, I'd run away.' Janet leant across and ruffled both her daughters' hair in turn; they both looked embarrassed, but their lips curved into modest smiles.

Gill allowed her eyes the luxury of scanning the faces around the table. Julie was to her left, and Sammy and Orla beside her. After Janet's family, Rachel sat with her brother, who was stuffing his face with chips and garlic bread, and Mitch and his wife sat with Pete and Lee a little further on. After that came Kevin, across from her, blowing bubbles into his coke.

Around the other half were the fangirls. She prided herself in knowing all of their names now, in recognising their accents, their little dimples. Jade sat next to Kevin, with tinsel draped around her neck, tucking into a healthy portion of lasagne and chips.

Gill couldn't quite imagine how it must feel to be free again, after whatever horrors she'd gone through locked up with those bastards. It was funny how you were always told not to get attached to cases, and yet with the fangirls she'd not quite managed that. She'd been emotionally involved from the off, and she didn't think she minded that.

Next to Jade were Lizzie, Hayley and Amy, squashed like sardines (Gill had always liked that simile) two seats between them because somehow there hadn't been quite enough chairs around the table for everyone. After Amy sat Sarah and Jill, who were fighting over the plastic moustache that had come out of a cracker. Sarah apparently won, and she shoved it up her nose with some sort of relish. Melissa sat next to Jill, and Sophie sat next to Melissa, and Melissa sat next to Gabby.

Somehow, some other girls had appeared beside them too, from various places around Britain. Emma, who liked to come up with nicknames for people – "something other than Godzilla, please?" Gill had requested – and Amanda, who liked Shakespeare, and Megan, who had thrown her arms around Rachel the moment she'd seen her. As you did.

Gill had never known the names of the little girls with the rosy cheeks and princess tiaras in her son's primary school class, but she knew the names of these girls. They were nice girls, special girls. Gill could see Melissa leaning across the table to talk to Rachel about working in the police force, and she felt a tinge of pride for these strangers, who weren't really strangers any more. She'd welcome them all onto MIT right now, if they weren't a little bit underage.

Her words echoed in her ears: "Okay, two things. A) why the hell are you filming me? B) I'm not entirely sure what a fungirl is, but I'm not sure it's something that a Detective Chief Inspector should be affiliated with." That seemed like so long ago now. She remembered how funny the girls had found it that she called them fungirls.

She felt suddenly that she was going to miss these girls terribly, when they went back home tomorrow. This felt a bit like a last supper, in a sense. They'd all promised they'd come back to visit, and Gabby had said she'd write Gill some fanmail (she hadn't known what that was, but didn't really like to ask), but it still felt strange, like a big part of her life was suddenly going to disappear. _God, stop getting sentimental, Murray, they're just kids._

"I'm going to miss you all," Kevin said suddenly.

"Aw," Jade said, collecting pasta onto her spoon, "We'll miss you too."

Rachel smirked, "You can take him with you, if you like, Jade."

"_Shuttup_," Kevin muttered through stringy cheese, "Anyway, I think I should give you your presents now."

"Presents? Since when have you got anyone presents?" Janet spluttered.

"Well, it's not very much."

He gave them all carefully wrapped gifts. Some of them were pretty pointless, some of them were downright absurd, but they all meant things, a disposable camera for Amy (she'd finished the film within a few minutes; Gill would be interested to see the results) and a beautiful figurine of a dancer for Hayley. He gave Jade a necklace, and she clasped it in her fingers, and Gill averted her eyes because the girl looked close to tears. Kevin could be so sweet when he wanted to be, couldn't he?

He left Melissa until last, until after they'd all finished their ice cream, and were drinking coffee (and orange juice). Then he passed her a cardboard box with holes in, and a lizard poked its head up when she opened the lid.

"Aw, thank you!"

"Is it a he or a she?" Gabby asked.

Kevin shrugged, "Not sure if you can tell with lizards."

"Is that the animal where it's the man that has the babies?"

"That's seahorses," Gill said dryly, but inside she was laughing. She watched the lizard run up Melissa's arms, watched the happiness on the girls' faces, watched the people she loved around the table, and thought that, all in all, the_ fungirls _had brought a lot of good into her life.

XxXxX

**I know this trailed off towards the end, and I know I haven't updated in ages, but I love all of you inexpressible amounts, and I hope this expresses that in some dysfunctional way. Thank you for reading, reviews would mean a lot given that it's the final chapter!x**


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